EndBadGovernance: Northern youths call on Tinubu to drop charges against minors

The Northern Youth Assembly has called on President Bola Tinubu to order the withdrawal of all charges against juveniles on trial for their alleged involvement in the recent #EndBadGovernance protests.

The group, in a statement issued to newsmen in Kano on Saturday, urged the president to order the “unconditional release of those boys to avoid further embarrassment to the Government and the Nigerian criminal justice system, in the interest of fairness, upholding the rule of law and the principles of democracy”.

Some of the juveniles, who had been detained by the police since August, collapsed in the courtroom of the Federal High Court in Abuja on Friday.

The incident occurred when the minors were brought to court from various police holding cells, including that of the Intelligence Response Team.

Portions of the statesmen signed by the President, Dr. Ali Idris Mohammed, and the Secretary General, Dr. Garba Abdulhafiz, said: “The National Leadership of the Northern Youth Assembly (Majalisar Matasan Arewa), on behalf of the nineteen chapters of the Northern States , wants us to unequivocally express our dismay at the content of a viral video showing some under-age children who appeared hungry, depressed, dog-tired and malnourished, arraigned before an Abuja High Court on charges of raising foreign flags in during a protest to end bad governance that took place from 1-10 August 2024 across the country.

“It is our fervent belief that the event at the court was nothing more than further damage to the little remaining integrity of the Nigerian judiciary and the Nigerian penal administration system as a whole.

“So this was what can best be described as devastating, heartbreaking, pathetic and horrific.”

According to the Assembly, the Nigerian criminal law provided that all criminal cases must be brought before the court within 48 hours and that anything contrary to this may amount to a violation of the fundamental rights of any suspect, “except under certain conditions, especially under the strict instructions of a competent court”.

The statement argued that the continued detention of “helpless and destitute children by the authorities of the federal government is not only a blatant disregard for the provisions of the laws of the land, but also a deliberate scheme to destroy the future of those youth or young adults. even endangering their lives”.

He also argued that the raising of foreign flags by citizens of a particular country during a protest had become a global practice and indicated nothing more than a practical dissatisfaction of citizens with the government of the day.

“We understand that this Government has assumed the status of an undemocratic regime disregarding the written or existing laws of the land and systematically turning the Government into an authoritarian administration characterized by nepotism, favoritism and resentment against some. certain sections of the country.

“It may be recalled that a few weeks ago, the lawyer of the Yoruba Nation, Mr. Sunday Igboho, organized and led a protest in London declaring open resolution to secede from Nigeria and announcing commitment to the establishment of a Yoruba Nation.

“Mr Sunday Igboho has equally petitioned the Prime Minister of Great Britain seeking his support to actualize the agitation for the Yoruba Nation and yet no one has been arrested so far.

“The APC government has started the trial of the minors who were arrested in August for participating in a protest against the APC’s bad governance. Unfortunately, some of these young protesters appeared in court visibly malnourished, and many of them collapsed from severe starvation and disease after enduring over 90 days of prolonged detention by the authorities nigerian.

“Seeing these starving young people detained simply for speaking out or participating in the national protest is an affront to the criminal justice system, humanity and democracy.

“It is both unacceptable and deeply troubling that Nigerian children, minors and youth have been held since August on charges of seeking to destabilize the government.

“These allegations are not only baseless but also reveal a disturbing disregard for the rights and welfare of these young people as Nigerians.”